Thursday, October 1, 2009

The Annoyance Of Wrist Watch Strap Repair

One annoying aspect about watches is how easily their straps break. They have that annoying little pin that slides into the hole at the top of the strap then fixes onto the watch itself. But the strap constantly falls off. If you have a watch for more than two years it will probably happens 4 or 5 times. Usually it can by fixed by yourself. Easily done, just slide the pin back into place. The problem comes when you bend that pin or lose it. Where do you get a new one?

Well of course you take it to a watchmakers to be fixed. Basically you get a new strap. It costs very little and takes a small amount of time to be done. There is virtually no waiting.

The problem comes when the watchmaker asks what strap you want. Nowadays there are so many different types. There are leather and metal straps as well as all different colors and designs. You came into to get your watch fixed and you are now faced with the difficult but strangely pleasurably experience of trying to decide what strap will look the best. Which one will give you the most attention?

When you walk out of that shop you may as well be wearing a whole new watch it so little resembles what it looked like a mere five minutes ago. Yes by all means get your strap repaired just remember it is now regarded as one of the most important aspects of the watch and can change its whole feel.

I remember I bought an awful watch from the market precisely for the reason that it was cheap. Nasty, but cheap. Like all cheap things from the market it broke within days. I caught the strap in a door and it ripped off. So off I went to the watch repair to get a new one. When I came out of that shop I still had the same awful digital clock face, but instead of the sweaty plastic strap I had a gorgeous green leather one. I loved my watch after that and it has to be said it drew a number of compliments.

The problem comes of course when you have an old watch and the strap breaks maybe for the first time. You go to the repair shop intent on getting the same strap and they no longer have it in stock. In fact it is no longer made. The best advice for that situation is trying the Internet. If that doesn't work there are enough straps out there to find a similar looking one. It may not quite be the same, but I suppose their is nothing you can do.



Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Annoyance-Of-Wrist-Watch-Strap-Repair&id=390669

New Wristwatch Designs for the Fashion Conscious to Choose From

Here are many good ideas for choosing a watch.
You can pick a watch with a bigger face and watchcase. Nowadays you can find watch case sizes of more than 40 mm.A large watch makes it easier to read the time. It also allows the craftsman more room for more eleborate designs.
Nowadays the minimalist look is in. People are going for the understated look. There's no need to go for bling effect or flashy watches. I am referring to watches with excessive diamonds or large ornate jewelry on it . You want to present a subtle and sophisticated image of yourself. There is no need to wear a watch that shouts ' I 'm worth a million bucks' . It 's simply crude and loud. The trend is simple elegant and clean lines on the dial.
Watch makers are catering to the whim and fancy of their buyers.
There are many watch shape designs. But the most common ones are the round shape, square, rectangular and barrel shape . The design of the round shape helps to resist water better. The square design is made famous by Cartier's tank watch.
Leather straps are now very popular. Leather is hot and matches with your leather products such as jacket , pants, bag , shoes and wallet. There are a wide variety of skins to choose from such as calfskins, buffalo, goat and pig . If you want something more exotic consider skins from crocodile, lizard , ostrich or shark. Not only that, colors have gone from traditional black and brown to bright colors like red, blue, yellow and orange. These straps are also interchangeable so that you change them to suit every occasion.
You can also have a choice of dial color , not to mention different metals such as stainless steel, yellow gold or rose gold for your watch case.
There are two other trends . As we entered the age of e-commerce, IT firms espouse casual and informal look at the office. You can consider digital quartz watches. New designs even sport the digital display in a vertical format.
The other lifestyle change is that people can getting more health conscious and more sport-oriented .If you are playing golf you will want to wear a watch that is light and won't affect your swing. Tag Heuer offers a watch just for this and Tiger Woods is heavily promoting it. A runner will take a liking to Nike sports watch designed specifically for running. If you excel in triathlon, Timex Ironman is the right watch for you. If you love the sea, Omega and Breitling offer diving watches that offer the highest level of water resistance and chronograph features. Men like watches with features that they can boast about such as the degree of accuracy, depth of water resistance , thinness and lightness of the watch. The Girard Perregaux Seahawk II Pro works 3000m below sea level. In reality , you need to be in a submarine if you venture below 700m .
You can consider luxury watches that reveal their inner mechanism with transparent case back. Skeleton watches reveal the entire movement and is a sight to behold.



Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?id=114122

The History of the Wrist Watch

In the present day, a wristwatch is not just a device to tell time, it has rather become a status icon. This is because with the increasing popularity of cell phones and pagers with small clocks, the wristwatch is just used as a fashion entity rather than being an object of function. Nowadays, expensive watch brands include Rolex, Cartier, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Tag Heuer, and Omega. Rich businesspersons and officials are found usually wearing one of these brands.

However, the scene was different almost 100 years ago. People were never found wearing expensive wristwatches, instead rich men always carried pocket watches, with a gold half-hunter, which was the status symbol at that time. Women also wore pendants attached to their jackets and corsets. Wristwatches were known as Wristlets and were mostly worn by women at that time.

It was considered as a temporary fashion, which would soon be gone. It is said that nanny who fixed a watch around her wrist with the help of a silk band, first invented by a wristwatch. The first watches that were made were smaller versions of the pocket watch and were fitted into a leather strap. Once this became popular, new designs came in the market using the same concept.

Louis Cartier, the kind of watch that we see today, made the first watch. He made the first watch for the flying hero Santos Dumont. After this, by the year 1911, these watches came in the market and became popular among people. To this day watches almost look like the same as they were back then.

Soon after this, the designs began to be modified. From the classical round shape that had been in fashion, new shapes and sizes started to be introduced. New companies introduced new shapes. Movado is the company that came out with the new "Polyplan" shaped watch. Patek Philippe made the first rectangular shaped clock.

From 1913 onwards new watch brands like Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin along with Patek Philippe and Cartier introduced new shapes and designs, which added new features like month, day, lunar phases, and dual time, which are available in most of the watches today.

The most famous wristwatch of all times is the Rolex. In 1920s, Rolex introduced the dual time feature for the first time, in which the seconds' sector was larger than that of minutes. Jaeger Le Coultre introduced a watch, which could turn 180 degrees within its case, thus providing a shield for the crystal and dial. It became very popular instantly, but its strength was lost by the recession in 1930s and starting of the Second World War.

Watches made between 1910s and 1930s are the type of watches we see today. Brands like Rolex, Cartier, Jaeger Le Coultre , Omega and the others mentioned in the article are among the most expensive and collectible varieties. Whenever you get a chance, do not miss them.


Source : http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-the-Wrist-Watch&id=2736148
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